If reading Vinod’s update on the tale of Mukhtaran Mai got you fired up, I’ve got the raita for what ails you. Heed this post, DC-area mutineers– a real live brown uprising is going down TOMORROW:

Please join NAPAWF-DC and ANAA for a rally
THURSDAY, June 23rd at 4:30 PM

EMBASSY OF PAKISTAN-WASHINGTON DC
3517 International Court, NW
Washington DC, 20008

Can’t this woman ever get just treatment? It’s nice that Condi got involved, but I’m a St. Thomas Christian to the bone– until Mukhtaran bibi is in this country, speaking freely, I won’t believe the Pakistani Government’s position that she has “permission” to travel. It’s unbelievable that we have to remind them not to be stupid about this in the first place (PR disaster much?).

Rallying might interest you for other reasons too, as a member of NAPAWF reminded me earlier this evening, when I mentioned the Secretary of State’s intervention

It doesnÂ’t mean anything beyond that she got her passport back. Globally, wherever there is injustice against Asian women and girls there is injustice against all of us.

Remember how you felt the first time you read this story? And how your gut clenched again when we covered the inexcusable punishment meted out to a woman who had been raped by her father-in-law and then ordered to marry him after “purification”? Some of you almost cheered when other groups intervened, when a higher authority decreed that her rapist might actually qualify for the death penalty. That’s because justice feels good. Let’s get Mukhtaran Mai some, shall we?

I know what you are thinking…”4:30 in the afternoon? There’s no way I can make it…” Of course you can. I’m told that this event should go on for a few hours. Any other excuses, objections or obstacles?

Look. This woman was assaulted repeatedly in public and then put through the worst judicial roller coaster I’ve ever followed. She can’t express herself. You can. We all read posts like this and feel that muted spark flicker within, a rekindling of the fire that we felt in college, when Amnesty International/Young Democrats/College Republicans/GLBT meetings were must-attends and adulthood/bills hadn’t beaten all the passion out of us. I’ll give you a precious hint– the fire is still there. I’m thirty and therefore a wizened, ancient elder of a human according to our community but I felt it. You will, too.

Metro directions: Red Line to Van Ness.
Walk up Van Ness and pass UDC campus and turn right on International Drive.